Book Reviews

Fired with Passion:
Contemporary Japanese Ceramics
by Samuel J. Lurie and Beatrice L. Chang
2006, 263 pp, over 200 colour plates, map, hardbound, 31 x 26 cm.

ISBN-10: 1-891640-38-0 $60.00
ISBN-13: 978-1-891640-38-4

Book review by David Revere McFadden (Arts of Asia Magazine, Vol. 37, No. 4, July-August 2007)

FIRED WITH PASSION—Contemporary Japanese Ceramics is the result of a collector’s insatiable appetite for ceramics, especially Japanese, and his wish to convert as many as possible to the cult of clay that captured his soul many years ago. As such, the book is a compilation of highly personal insights and interpretations of a form of art—non‑functional sculptural ceramics—that began to blossom in Japan in the years following the devastation of World War Two, and which has come into full bloom in the past two decades. At the same time, clay is a medium that is inextricably tied to its prehistoric roots and ancient traditions. For millennia potters have transformed this humble and ordinary material into works of often ethereal beauty. Fired With Passion reminds the reader of this distinguished lineage, yet at the same time suggests the myriad ways in which the material has evolved over the course of the recent past.
   Authors Lurie and Chang (collector and gallery director, respectively) state the purpose of writing this book quite simply in their Preface: "Our chief concern is to introduce the reader to outstanding examples of contemporary Japanese ceramics and explain what we see in each-specifically, how they astonish, captivate and enlighten" (page ix). The authors set out to seduce the reader into the delights of looking in a Berensonian manner to comprehend ".what their pictures mean to us today as works of art" (Introduction, page x).
   The authors have chosen works by some of the most internationally acclaimed artists working in clay since 1945, but have also included works by several lesser known practitioners, some of which are admittedly chosen because of the quality of a single work, not a lifetime achievement. The ample and large scale illustrations in the volume are of works in the collection of Samuel and Gabrielle Lurie, although illustrations are also drawn from a large number of institutional and private collections, ranging from the Tokyo National Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, to the more unknown regional and prefectural museums in Japan and other anonymous private collections. Like the formation of the Lurie collection itself, the authors acknowledge that "It bears repetition to state that neither the selection of the artists, the specific works, nor our comments are intended to be anything more than an expression of our considered opinions" (page xi).
   The candour of the authors in recognising the subjective nature of their commentaries on specific works is born out in the catalogue entries for specific works, which often record the authors' emotional, as well as visual and intellectual, reactions to the pieces. Lurie and Chang's "diary of looking" invites the viewer to share their excitement and pleasure in a very visceral manner; the entries are written in an almost conversational tone atypical of most collection catalogues. Several introductory chapters on topics such as "Special Pleasures of Ceramics", "Functional v. Sculptural Ceramics", and "Art v. Craft" are equally poetic and polemic at the same time. To cite one example of the often charming candour that pervades the texts, in discussing a Middle Jomon pot from the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Archaeology, they write ".it exhibits rhythm coupled with classical restraint, suggesting graceful music. Perhaps Mozart."
   The authors are adamant in their stance that art and craft are not separate spheres of thought and action: "All ceramic work has the potential for aesthetic excellence or sterility; any style ceramic piece may be, or may not be, an exciting, beautiful, creative artistic work" (page xvii). For them the notion of a hierarchy of importance in the field is an "old notion that deserves to be buried". On the question of functional versus non functional work, the authors are equally zealous: "There is no shame in being useful; there is no virtue in being useless" (page xvi).
   In contrast to the subjective nature of the entries for individual works are a number of chapters in the book that give the novice in Japanese art a contextual and historical background for contemporary developments. "The Legacy: A Brief History Until 1945" is a useful and compact twenty three page introduction (including illustrations) to Japanese ceramics from the Jomon to Taisho period (1921 1926). For Jomon dating the authors use 13,000 to 500 BCE, although other sources use 10,000 to 300 BCE. Each period is illustrated with one or more masterworks from the period, with most of this historical material coming from Japanese museum collections. An essay on "Contemporary Ceramics: Post 1945" is followed by biographical and narrative commentaries on the works of the "Pioneers of Abstract Ceramic Sculpture": Hayashi Yasuo, Yagi Kazuo and Suzuki Osamu, but also lesser knowns such as Kumakura Junkichi.
   From this contextual survey, the authors divide the remainder of the book (aside from a small chapter at the end on "Tea Ceremony Bowls") by region, beginning logically with Kyoto, followed by the kilns of Bizen, Shigaraki, Oribe, Gifu, Tokyo, etc. A special acknowledgment is made to the artist Tsuboi Asuka (born 1932) whom the authors call "the leading feminist ceramic artist in Japan" (see cover). This is a distinction that merits attention, since traditionally women were excluded from pottery making. With the groundbreaking efforts of Tsuboi, the field experienced a small, but profound revolution, and today works by female ceramists such as Keishi Eiko and Koike Shoko (born 1943) are regarded on a level playing field with those of the men who have predominated the field for the past half century.
   Some compelling contrasts in approaches to clay today are apparent in the volume. The pure and minimalist Song inspired celadons of Fukami Suehara (who also works in editions rather than one off pieces) stand in striking contrast to the Pop culture derived imagery of the young (born 1968) ceramist Hinoda Takashi. The artist's Rush Hour Zombie, which depicts a rushing crowd of urban types emerging from a stylised subway tunnel, are humorous and satirical at the same time. Like contemporary ceramics in most other parts of the world, these pieces are indicative of the diversity of forms and meanings assigned to the medium.
   The book contains a list of publications for further reading which, understandably, includes many books of general, historical and archaeological intent. The authors note in the introduction the paucity of publications on contemporary developments, but the scene is changing rapidly as more and more books and catalogues, such as Joe Earle’s excellent Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century (2005) are published. As the community of collectors of this art form continues to expand, so too will the exhibitions and publications dedicated to the subject.
   In addition to the reading list, Fired with Passion does include a helpful map of the ceramic regions at the beginning of the book to assist those whose geographic knowledge of Japan is slight. It could have benefitted from the addition of an index of artist’s names, the lack of which makes it difficult to find specific information if one does not know which region a particular artist may be from. Each large (often full page) illustration is accompanied by a figure number and artist name; it would have been useful to have some indication of dimensions with the caption on the same page, since size and scale can so dramatically affect the aesthetic perception of the pieces. Indications of ownership of the individual works would have also been useful; a page of photography credits at the end of the publication implies ownership, but it is not clearly stated. Each of the works selected by the authors has great presence that is particularly evident in the full page images that present the works on a neutral background. Other introductions into the design, such as computer‑generated shadows were unnecessary, as were some manipulated background colours.
   Fired With Passion is a volume that should find its place on the bookshelves of not only engaged collectors, but the general reader in contemporary art. In the past two decades, the artificial boundaries and hierarchies that have kept art, craft and design in separate and entirely unequal territories have happily eroded, their political /cultural/ economic substructures challenged. Fired With Passion adds yet another brick in the pavement of creative evolution that is so evident in the blurring of boundaries between disciplines, and reminds us that art is a vehicle of international communication.
   Samuel Lurie and Beatrice Chang have laboured to present contemporary Japanese ceramics in a highly personal, opinionated and charmingly conversational manner. If a potential collector needs to find a soul mate to steer her or him in the right direction, Fired With Passion: Contemporay Japanese Ceramics is a great way to begin the conversation.

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